Former Aggie Polo Gutierrez now coaches at Texas-San Antonio

LAS CRUCES - Before his time at New Mexico State, rather as a player at Carroll High School, Polo Gutierrez wanted to be a college football coach.

He kept that goal in mind as an Aggie player - a three-year starter on the offensive line at NMSU - and now has a job coaching running backs at Texas-San Antonio.
In that respect it will be a homecoming of sorts for the Corpus Christi, Texas native when UTSA visits NMSU on Saturday for a 6 p.m. game at Aggie Memorial Stadium.

"You know, it means a lot," Gutierrez said of returning to NMSU. "It means a lot to everybody. I don't want to put an emphasis on just me. It's our first WAC game and a chance to put us on the map.

"Personally, I have some good memories and some bad memories at that stadium. It's going to be neat. People ask me, 'how do you feel about it." I say, 'ask me after the game.'"

Gutierrez's career goal is to be the head coach of a Division I program - "ever since high school," he said of his coaching aspirations.

After playing at NMSU from 2005-08, he was a graduate assistant briefly at the program before joining the Roadrunners staff in a similar role in 2009. UTSA played its inaugural year in football last season and is currently a first-year program in the WAC. The head coach of the team is Larry Coker, a long-standing veteran on the college level. Coker had a 60-15 record as the former head coach at Miami, winning the 2001 National Championship.

"He's one of my mentors," Gutierrez said.

Advertisement

"Coach Coker's taken me under his wing. He said, 'I'm going to teach you and you'll learn.' And he did."

After serving as a graduate assistant for the Roadrunners, Gutierrez was eventually promoted from within, hired as the team's running backs coach in 2010.

"He is very well-connected in the South-Texas area, which will help us tremendously in recruiting," Coker said upon making the hire. "He's already familiar with our program from his time as a graduate assistant this fall, so the transition will be smooth. I know he's excited about this opportunity and we're excited to have him full-time."

Said Gutierrez on coaching running backs: "We pride ourselves on being more physical than most people. I kind of treat them like offensive linemen. They're not pretty-boys to me."

The unit, however, is one of the Roadrunners strong suits. UTSA averages 203-rushing-yards per game with their running backs lining up at multiple positions on the field in the team's offensive scheme.

"We had a year to not play anybody," Gutierrez said of 2009, when UTSA was in the process of building its program. "To have our guys and to just run our offense....It's a very complex offense. But when they got ahold of it? It can be very dangerous. We got it all."

In his time at NMSU, Gutierrez's reputation was that of a good player and a team player, one who wore the Aggie uniform proudly. After his freshman year he moved from the defensive side of the ball to the offensive line.

He said one day he would like to return to NMSU as a coach. This weekend, however, he'll be the opponent.

"It's going to be different," Gutierrez said. "Being on the other sideline. Going against them."

Teddy Feinberg can be reached at (575) 541-5455. Follow him on Twitter @TeddyFeinberg